The Japanese have some of the craziest shows ever. Distributed by Monster9 whom eventually did Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course. And you know it’s definitely a big deal if ESPN picked up US distribution rights for Viking. G4 picked up distribution on Sasuke but gave it the American title Ninja Warrior.
On the twentieth competition which will air here in the States on May 18th, it consists of one hundred competitors that try to battle it out against a four stage obstacle course which consistently gets more difficult at each stage. The course requires an enormous amount of stamina and arm strength along with agility being that there are many things that require balance and I personally couldn’t imagine ever completing.
I will say that there’s definitely a perfect body type and size for this competition. In past competitions, there’s been some Europeans and even a couple Marines that tried their luck at it. But while they conquered the first stage easily, eventually their size actually became a detriment since their arm muscles would have to carry a lot more body mass over the stamina and endurance stages.
A competition of this sort would do very well in the US in my opinion, depending on if someone could get around the liability issue since Sasuke is done with no equipment at all pretty much. Creation of such a course here would definitely bring many to compete along with a huge viewer base for telecast. Think about it, if this was produced in the United States, this challenge in my opinion is actually way more interesting than something like American Gladiators. It also would not be the first time a Japanese show has been redone in the US. Kitchen Arena, anyone? Oh yes. I speak of Iron Chef.
Photo Credit: (ninjapoodles)
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